Newborn infants are capable of a simple form of learning while they're asleep, according to a study by researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health. The finding may one day lead to a test that can identify infants at risk for developmental disorders that do not become apparent until later in childhood.
News
NICHD issues News Releases and Media Advisories to the news media. Spotlight and Research Feature articles explain NICHD research findings and public health issues to the general public. An Item of Interest is a short announcement of relevant information, such as a notable staff change.
New Intramural Report Available
The Division’s research programs address topics ranging from molecular and cellular biology, genetics, and endocrine and genetic disorders, to physical biology, neurosciences, immunology, reproduction, and behavioral research. Its projects are organized around the theme of the orchestration of life by molecular messengers.
NIH Study Confirms Location of Stem Cells Near Cartilage-Rich Regions in Bones
Working with mice, a team of researchers has pinpointed the location of bone generating stem cells in the spine, at the ends of shins, and in other bones. The team also has identified factors that control the stem cells' growth. The research was conducted at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions.
NIH Awards $8.5 Million for Research on Pharmaceuticals for Children
Studying drugs in pediatric populations is challenging because drugs often affect children differently than they do adults. The scarcity of pediatric studies limits the ability of doctors and scientists to predict drug dosing, safety and efficacy in children. To address this gap, the National Institutes of Health announced today 18 grants to help determine outcome measures and increase the likelihood of success of future trials of treatments for children.
NIH Newborn Screening Research Program Named In Memory of Hunter Kelly
The National Institutes of Health today announced the establishment of a research program to enhance newborn screening, in memory of the son of National Football League Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly.
New Technique Could Eliminate Inherited Mitochondrial Disease
Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have developed an experimental technique with the potential to prevent a class of hereditary disorders passed on from mother to child. The technique, as yet conducted only in nonhuman primates,involves transferring the hereditary material from one female's egg into another female's egg from which the hereditary material has been removed.
NIH Issues Research Plan on Fragile X Syndrome & Associated Disorders
The National Institutes of Health has developed a research plan to advance the understanding of fragile X syndrome and its associated conditions, fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome and fragile X-associated primary ovarian insufficiency. Fragile X syndrome causes intellectual and developmental disabilities and results from a mutation in a gene on the X chromosome.
New Technique Could Sustain Cancer Patients' Fertility
Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have completed a critical first step in the eventual development of a technique to retain fertility in women with cancer who require treatments that might otherwise make them unable to have children.
NIH Researchers Discover How Prion Protein Damages Brain Cells
Scientists at the National Institutes of Health have gained a major insight into how the rogue protein responsible for mad cow disease and related neurological illnesses destroys healthy brain tissue.
NIH Podcast Advises Women On How to Achieve a Healthy Pregnancy
Women can increase their chances for a healthy pregnancy by eating right, exercising, not smoking, and getting early medical care, says a podcast featuring a National Institutes of Health obstetrician who oversees research on pregnancy and birth.
Researchers Develop DNA "Patch" For Canine Form of Muscular Dystrophy
Using a novel genetic technology that covers up genetic errors, researchers funded in part by the National Institutes of Health have developed a successful treatment for dogs with the canine version of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a paralyzing, and ultimately fatal, muscle disease.
Neuroscience Research at the NICHD
Since its founding as an entity to “encourage imaginative research into the complex processes of human development,” the NICHD has both supported and conducted research in the neurosciences. Initially, this work focused on examining problems of birth defects and intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Earlier Jaundice Treatment Decreases Brain Injury In Preemies
A study from a National Institutes of Health research network found that an early treatment to prevent severe newborn jaundice in extremely early preterm infants reduced the infants' rate of brain injury, a serious complication of severe jaundice.
Common Treatment to Delay Labor Decreases Preterm Infants' Risk for Cerebral Palsy
Preterm infants born to mothers receiving intravenous magnesium sulfate--a common treatment to delay labor--are less likely to develop cerebral palsy than are preterm infants whose mothers do not receive it, report researchers in a large National Institutes of Health research network.
Low Levels of Brain Chemical May Lead to Obesity, NIH Study of Rare Disorder Shows
A brain chemical that plays a role in long term memory also appears to be involved in regulating how much people eat and their likelihood of becoming obese, according to a National Institutes of Health study of a rare genetic condition.
Molecular Switch Boosts Brain Activity Associated with Schizophrenia
People with schizophrenia have an alteration in a pattern of brain electrical activity associated with learning and memory. Now, researchers from the National Institutes of Health and Sweden's Karolinska Institute have identified in mouse brain tissue a molecular switch that, when thrown, increases the strength of this electrical pattern.
NIH Researchers Find That Rett Syndrome Gene Is Full of Surprises
A study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has transformed scientists' understanding of Rett syndrome, a genetic disorder that causes autistic behavior and other disabling symptoms. Until now, scientists thought that the gene behind Rett syndrome was an "off" switch, or repressor, for other genes. But the new study, published today in Science1, shows that it is an "on" switch for a startlingly large number of genes.
Newly Awarded Autism Centers of Excellence to Further Autism Research
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced on April 1, 2008, the latest recipients of the Autism Centers of Excellence (ACE) program. These grants will support studies covering a broad range of autism research areas, including early brain development and functioning, social interactions in infants, rare genetic variants and mutations, associations between autism-related genes and physical traits, possible environmental risk factors and biomarkers, and a potential new medication treatment.
In Honor of Eunice Kennedy Shriver
Eunice Kennedy Shriver, executive vice president of the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation and founder and honorary chairperson of Special Olympics, has been a leader in the worldwide struggle to improve and enhance the lives of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities for most of her life. Her vision and unrelenting efforts helped to establish the NICHD in 1962. In recognition of her dedication, Congress passed Public Law 110-154 on December 21, 2007, renaming the Institute as the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
New NIH Research Plan on Down Syndrome
Research on lifelong disorders, such as Down syndrome, has been a fundamental part of the NICHD’s mission since the Institute was established 45 years ago. To build on this research foundation and coordinate Down syndrome research the NIH created its Working Group on Down Syndrome. Down syndrome is the most common genetic cause of intellectual and developmental disability and occurs in one out of 800 births in the United States.